


Wait

by Awkward_Dalek



Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 08:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkward_Dalek/pseuds/Awkward_Dalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of things could go wrong, working where they did, and Connor had often spent nights imagining some of the worst scenarios. There had been times he couldn't sleep, kept up by thoughts haunting him, memories of past team members fates.</p>
<p>However, after all they'd been through, this had never occurred to him. He never thought the universe would be so incredibly cruel that it would take away his best friend, his wife. Never had he dared to think it would take Abby away from him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wait

A lot of things could go wrong, working where they did, and Connor had often spent nights imagining some of the worst scenarios. There had been times he couldn't sleep, kept up by thoughts haunting him, memories of past team members fates.

However, after all they'd been through, this had never occurred to him. He never thought the universe would be so incredibly cruel that it would take away his best friend, his wife. Never had he dared to think it would take Abby away from him.

Yet, here he was, sat in the field that Abby had been in. The field he'd stood in as he'd watched her get chased through the anomaly by raptors, unable to help. He'd had no guns, no weapons of any kind, and she'd shouted at him persistently to stay back.

She'd said she knew what she was doing.

He doubted she'd known the anomaly would close as quickly as it did.

Taking a deep breath, Connor pulled his knees up to his chest and continued to watch the space where the anomaly had been, hoping that he could will it back into existence.

They hadn't even been expecting it, this was supposed to be their day off. A few hours to enjoy a romantic picnic with each other.

He should have known better, really.

_'It's okay Con, just stay back!' Abby insisted, throwing rocks at the raptors to grab their attention. 'They just need to get back through the anomaly, so make sure they follow me okay. We can't let them get near those kids.'_

_He knew she was right. Those raptors would rip the kids to shreds in minutes, they couldn't risk waiting for the rest of the team to get here._

_The raptors had turned to look and were starting to run towards Abby and Connor moved to step forward, intervene._

_'Stay put. Make sure they follow me. I'll be back. I promise,' Abby said and then she stepped through the anomaly._

"Connor? Connor what's happened? We got an anomaly alert for right here."

He recognised the voice as Matt's and a quick glance up told him that yes, the others had arrived. _"_ _Too little too late,"_  a bitter voice in his head reminded him. Shutting the voice away, Connor pushed himself to stand. It had only been half an hour and yet he felt like he'd been sitting there for days.

_The raptors were following her and then, not seconds after the last raptor was through, the anomaly shut._

_'No! No, she's still in there!' Connor shouted, running towards were the anomaly had been, grasping at the empty air as if, somehow, he could pull the space open and grab her._

_'No she's still in there you can't shut. Abby can't be stuck there,' he pleaded, shoulders shaking as tears rolled down his face. Connor fell to the floor, pulling at the grass as he sobbed, pleading and begging. She had to come back, she'd promised._

_She'd promised._

"There was an anomaly and it, er," he coughed to clear his throat, gesturing towards the empty space of the field before continuing. "Some raptors came through. They were heading towards the kids park over there and so," another deep breath, calming himself. "Abby got their attention. They chased her back through the anomaly but it closed before she could get back through." To his credit, his voice only cracked a little bit.

Matt was looking around, from the kids park to the couples picnicking and he nodded. "She did the right thing. Do you know if it's going to open again? Do we have any witnesses?"

"Jenny is already dealing with the witnesses," Becker said in reply, looking more than a little worried every time he looked at Connor.

Connor said nothing, simply shaking his head as he sat back down on the ground, feeling faint. He had no idea if it would open again and, even if it did, who was to say she'd be there to come back through it? She could have found a different anomaly by then or she could be-

No. He stopped that train of thought, refusing to believe Abby was anything other than alive. She was smart, she could handle herself. She'd done this before, been stuck through an anomaly.

_"But never alone,"_  the voice reminded him. Connor chose to ignore it.

"Well, if there is no danger of it opening back up any time soon, we should head back to the ARC," Matt was saying and Connor shook his head wildly.

"You can't be serious! Abby is still in there, if it opens she's going to need us here!" He protested, hurt that Matt would even consider leaving, abandoning a friend, a team member.

Matt crossed his arms over his chest, expression kept neutral and he shrugged. "There's nothing we can do, Connor. The anomaly's shut and who's to say when it will open again. We could be waiting years."

Of course that was true, months, years, it could take decades for this anomaly to re-open. But that didn't change the fact he had to try. Had to wait.

He didn't want Abby to think he'd left her, given up hope.

"Fine, you all go back to the ARC. I'm staying here," Connor said, sounding like a stubborn child even to his ears. "She needs to know I'm not giving up on her," he said, a little quieter, staring down at his feet.

Part of him expected Matt to argue, to drag him kicking and screaming back to the ARC. But instead Matt patted him on the shoulder and nodded before turning round, shouting out orders to people before turning back.

"I won't force you to leave, Connor. Just stay safe, Abby's going to want you in one piece when she gets back."

Connor stopped listening after that, swivelling himself back round so that he could face the way the anomaly had been.

And he waited.

He heard someone, possibly Emily, leave the gun beside him and the ARC cars leave.

And he waited.

Kids started to leave the park and couples walked past him, muttering under their breath about how weird he was.

But he didn't care. He waited.

It was steadily growing darker and Connor knew he should go home, get some sleep. He'd be alerted as soon as a new anomaly opened. He knew it and yet he couldn't bring himself to move from the spot.

He wondered if she was okay, had she found somewhere to sleep? Had she outrun the raptors? Maybe she was sat a few meters away from him, the only thing separating them being thousands of years. Maybe longer.

It hurt to think about.

Abby would hate him right now. Tell him he needed to get home and rest. That this was pointless.

He knew that but still he waited.

Soon after the sun had set and it had become hard to see, he heard a car, saw the headlights flooding the area around him.

He reached out to grab the gun beside him, terrified for a moment that it was murderers. Kidnappers. _Lester_

He heard the car come to a stop, a door open and slam shut and he froze, gripping the gun a little tighter.

"I hope you aren't planning on shooting me with that."

Becker. Relief flooded through him and he turned his head to see the man walking towards him, lugging what looked to be a pretty heavy bag.

"Come to force me to leave?" Connor asked, eyeing the man wearily even as Becker shook his head.

"No, I figured you'd die of old age before I could get you to leave. So I brought some food and a tent. Weather forecast said it's meant to rain," Becker explained, sitting down beside Connor and pulling out plastic containers full of food.

Connor couldn't help but smile a little bit, watching. "Did you cook all this just for me?" He teased, snagging one of the containers and a fork.

"I ordered chinese, idiot."

"Yes, but for me."

"Maybe I ordered it for myself."

"But you're sharing it with _me_."

"Connor if you keep on I will personally escort you through the next anomaly and leave you there."

"All right, Mr big tough soldier doesn't want people to know he has feelings, I get it," Connor grinned, opening the container of what he guessed was egg fried rice. "Thanks," he added on after a moment, his voice softer, and he watched as Becker simply nodded.

Connor didn't say it out loud, but he was glad someone had come back to keep him company. And, out of everyone, he was glad it had been Becker. The others were great, of course, but Becker had been with them through a lot and right now he needed someone like that.

Someone he could call a friend.

The two fell in to silence, eating and watching until most of the food was gone and the first few drops of rain began to fall. From there it was a mad rush of shouting and laughter to get the tent up, curse words and taunts thrown about.

"What, has the toy soldier never put up a tent before?"

"Connor I fucking swear one more word!"

As soon as the tent was put up the two crawled inside, soaking wet and desperate to get out of the rain.

"This is huge," Connor stated, looking around the tent. "I could probably stand up in it."

"Please don't try. And take your shoes off, I don't want mud every where."

Connor muttered a 'yes sir' under his breath, kicking his shoes off and placing them near the edge of the tent.

Becker had, thankfully, had the foresight to bring two sleeping bags and Connor happily got in to his, turning on his side to look at the other man.

"Why did you, ya know, come back?" Connor asked finally, watching Becker.

There were a few moments of silence, the only noise being the rain hitting the roof of the tent. And then, finally, "Because I know what it's like to lose people you care about through those things. When you and Abby got stuck through their last time it was hard for the rest of the team, not knowing how you were. I didn't want you to go through it alone, or get yourself killed."

"Aw, I care about you too," Connor grinned, shutting his eyes as he pulled the sleeping bag further over him.

Becker rolled his eyes, staring up at the ceiling of the tent, thinking. "I'm surprised you didn't go chasing after her."

"She'd have murdered me if I had," Connor mumbled, yawning. "And there wasn't time. It closed too quickly. But she'll be back. Just... just gotta wait," he continued sleepily.

"Yeah, she'll be back," Becker agreed quietly, glancing over and realising Connor had already drifted off to sleep.

Listening to the rain hit the tent, Becker began to relax enough to fall asleep himself, vowing silently that he'd help Connor through this.

He knew what it was like to lose people and so, together, they'd wait.


End file.
